“We are all creators. Creation is one of the characteristics that defines God. Shouldn’t we be creators as well? We each have to say to ourselves, What will I create of my life? My time? My future?” Mary Ellen Smoot, We Are Creators, General Conference, April 2000
Throughout my life, I have longed to have some great creative talent…and in many ways, I do, but my creativity pales in comparison to many who exhibit incredible raw talent that evokes emotion, inspires change, and motivates others to build their dreams into realities. I have spent time taking photographs, but I am not a photographer. I have written many poems, but I am not a poet. I have tried so many things and been so afraid of failure, that it is easier to give up than to persist and see how well I can develop a gift or a talent.
I see my daughter and the gifts she has been given: friendship, art, and now she is in the beginning stages of learning to play the violin and I see what a talent it can be for her, she has a gift that if cultivated, can give her a sense of accomplishment and bring joy to those around her by sharing what she can do. As a mom, I guess my dreams have shifted from developing my talents to helping my daughter see her creative talents as an opportunity to overcome fear of failure, to persist even when things are the most difficult and the struggle seems hard to bear.
Let me tell you about one of the most creative persons I have ever known…my paternal grandmother, Madena Taylor (Wilson). She was born in 1925, in a small town in Idaho, the third of six children born to Aurthur Reynolds Taylor and Emma Marie Egbert. During this time in American history, many families were going through difficult times, this was no different for the Taylors, but they had each other and a community of family and friends that helped everyone else.
Madena had such a passion for learning and taught herself much by way of art, music, and education. She completed educational studies at Albion State Normal School. In 1946, she married Harold Eugene Wilson, a small-town boy from Arcola, Illinois. He joined the military during his final year of high school, leaving before he even received his high school diploma. They had four children, two girls and two boys. Madena spend much of her life in the service of others, always willing to do what was needed to help someone else to be relieved of their burdens.
She spent her professional career as a teacher, and blessed the lives of students she taught, their families, and of those she worked with. She loved to paint and helped to paint murals in many schools in the Minidoka County School District. Unfortunately, many of these paintings were painted over throughout the years; however, near the end of my first teaching job in the district, I found a special mural she created in the auditorium. It had miraculously been preserved and I was grateful I was able to photograph this mural.
Let me share a special story about how a gift she gave to someone came back to me…almost 20 years prior, my grandma was a teacher and she had a student teacher working under her. This individual was pregnant with her first child and Madena gave her a baby blanket, a very special blanket that she had painted. This student teacher treasured this blanket and preserved it.
My first teaching job was at West Minico Middle School, in Paul, Idaho, just a few miles away from where my grandma’s house was in the same city. I spent three years teaching at this school and had a wonderful relationship with many of my colleagues, several whom had taught with my grandma at various times throughout their careers. One in particular, was this young student teacher that had been with my grandma so many years ago.
I left teaching at West Minico and moved to Idaho Falls and after two years later, found out that I was pregnant with my daughter. This former colleague of mine, sent me the most amazing gift, the blanket my grandma had painted for her when she was expecting her first child.
What a beautiful and priceless gift that was such a tender mercy from the Lord. My grandma passed away in 2000, fourteen years before my daughter was born. This small gift was as close to having her with me as I welcomed my baby into the world, while she was a world away in heaven.
Madena was an incredible person, she created things for everyone her entire life. We made taffy in the summer, gingerbread houses at Christmas time, homemade jewelry were treasured birthday gifts, and the family favorite was Spanish bingo at Thanksgiving. She taught herself Spanish in order to help the students in her class that were from migrant families. She helped them feel welcomed into the class by having her English students learn some Spanish by playing Spanish bingo. She made her own bingo cards with pictures and included the English and Spanish words so they could learn small things to communicate with each other.
She lived a life full of love and service. She never accepted life as something to be endured, she made it hers by doing what she loved, being creative with art and music, and being a strength for her family. Family was always her priority, this included those who weren’t even related to her, everyone was family! She lost both of her daughters in 1973 and 1977. Her beloved husband passed away in 1997, and she willingly took on the responsibility of helping to raise her great-grandson. Up until her death, she put the needs of others above her own, time and time again. Even now, I can see how she has passed on a legacy of love and service, of self-lessness, and her creativity lives on through her small tokens, her rememories…the paintings, the earrings, Spanish bingo cards, and so much more.
I feel blessed to be a part of her posterity, the greatness she showed in life lives on through the life I see my father, her son, live. He too has been an anchor of my faith, his counsel and guidance throughout the years has blessed and enriched my life beyond my expectations. He has given his life in service to those around him just as his mother did, without thought for himself.
If we are truly a culmination of our ancestors, the lives they lived and the gifts they have given to us are found in the difficulties they faced and their determination to hold on to hope, stand with courage, and faith in greater things than themselves.
Our lives can be summed up into a poem that my grandma wrote about seasons (1998):
Seasons
Winter comes with snowflakes bright
And drapes herself in ermine white.
She helps the flower buds to rest,
By holding them inside her breast.
Spring brings cheer to all who live,
Her leafy beauty, us to give.
The air is sweet with rich perfume
Sent from peck flower's slender bloom.
Summer sends the lush-full rose.
A gentle, wispy streamlet flows,
Giving life to all it touches,
Sending songlettes as it rushes.
Autumn dons her golden scape,
Scarlet leaves and violet cape.
The moon is full and nights are warm
And harvest is inside the barn.
As seasons come and seasons go,
We think of faithful friends we know,
That shared this wonderous time and space,
Her in our hearts a special place.
Sometimes we are in the winter of our lives and feel cold, and alone. But just as spring follows suite, we can find ourselves basking in the beauty of the flowers. As we remember the lives of those who have been with us for a season or a lifetime, we can trust that as long as we hold a special place in our hearts for them, they will never be forgotten.
3 Trees Genealogy Studio
I choose this name, based upon my grandmother. She loved painting nature and always included three trees in many of her paintings. For me, the trees represent the following: 1) the family we were born into (the past); 2) the family we choose (the present); and 3) the family yet to be (the future). Through each of these family groups, we can find ourselves and our sense of purpose, and who we can become. By learning about our ancestors, where they have come from and what they faced in their lives, we can find their strength within us.
3 Trees Genealogy Studio 